Challenge: Get experienced owner back to where he was before he started losing bookings on VRBO.

Background

Bob Hepp got into vacation rental after selling an 11-unit apartment building he’d owned for 30 years. He was looking for a rental property where he could reinvest the money he made from the sale, and found a small gated community on the coast in Bethany Beach that he thought would be perfect for a short-term vacation rental.

It was a win-win. The Hepp family would have a nice coastal retreat where they could gather for summer and generate a little side income when they weren’t using it themselves.

Bob listed the home on VRBO and Airbnb and was very successful - booking out the summer high season like clockwork - until things started to change three years ago. Once VRBO began sorting search results based on listing quality, Bob stopped getting bookings.

Giving up the rental income he had grown accustomed to wasn’t an option, so he was open to a fresh idea when he heard about a vacation rental company that was doing things differently.

“

I found out that Evolve would come out, take pictures at their expense, list my property & do all of the marketing, so I said ‘sign me up!'”

“

I could be in Florida and my cell phone gives me a little beep. It says - you’ve been booked. My home gets rented as much as I want it to be rented and I’m only dealing with one company.”

Solution

Bob started to look into Evolve and decided he had nothing to lose by giving it a shot. With no term contract, he could leave anytime he wanted and he wouldn’t have to pay Evolve a dime unless they got him bookings.

The team at Evolve went to work and it wasn’t long before things started turning around for Bob - he was back to filling up his open summer weeks.

“I would not have any bookings if it weren’t for Evolve,” he said. “I have pretty much all that I can absorb at this point - eight week-long rentals per summer - because we block off Memorial Day and Labor Day for my family.”

Performance

Time with Evolve

1.5 years

Nights Booked

90

Total Bookings

17

Rental Income

$71,550

Results

These days, Bob isn’t struggling to keep his calendar filled. Evolve secures bookings for him early in the season - and often.

In the year and a half with Evolve, Bob has already made $71,550 with his Bethany Beach home.

“Since we started renting it, we initially planned to only rent it for three years, but an extra $50,000 per year when you’re retired is pretty helpful!”

Bob is happy that his bookings have rebounded and he’s back to getting requests for every open weekend during the summer. He appreciates that Evolve’s team fills his high season and that he still gets to enjoy a couple of weeks in the property with his family - it’s the best of both worlds.